So, today I saw Bleeding Cool’s article about your con and I had a chuckle. You absolutely forbid cosplay.  That is your right as a show.  As I read through the article, I made a few mental notes where you all messed up so let me please share.

“Sorry no cosplay allowed” Picture

I am so hoping that you all got permission of the person that you used in your example of telling us to go away.  It would be bad enough to say not only are we not invited but to also use a picture without permission is just opening yourself up to a lawsuit.

The Name of the show

Ok…uuuhhh, maybe it’s just me but the word “Elite” is a bit, oh I don’t know…pretentious. What is this show supposed to do any differently than any other collectible show that is around? Some of the items I have seen on your FB page isn’t all that much different that items you can find anywhere else, heck a few of these items I own myself. So, to call yourself “Elite” what makes you better?
if you were selling nothing but high end graded books, 1st edition toys or hard to find collectibles at premium prices, then yeah, I can agree with your con being ‘elite’.  Truth be told, your site reads like it’s a glorified flea market for collectibles…which actually wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

But  the fun part is “Con”.  When you are billing a show with comic collectibles, and using the word “Con” what do you expect? No, maybe we shouldn’t think  it’s a traditional comic con and that we should cosplay but…did you ever consider that calling yourself a “con” maybe a misnomer and if you wanted to prohibit cosplayers, maybe you should have billed yourself as a trade show or an industry show instead?

If you missed it, you are a TRADE SHOW, NOT A COMIC CONVENTION.

Which leads me to…

Who is running your board?

It’s amazing the screen caps that were captured by BC in their covering of this issue. I can only guess at what they missed since most were taken down.  Just an FYI, the first impression of some shows can be garnered by who may be manning and responding on your message board. If you want to run a business and want people to respect you, OWN YOUR WORDS.  When you start deleting posts and restricting speech then appears you have something to hide. If something is posted that may be contradictory to a crowd, it’s best to craft a well thought out response from the heads of the committee than one that is going to pour more gasoline on the situation. Oh wait, and then there are claims that people asked questions about panels and they were blocked?  Is that a professional way to handle inquiring customers?  That’s not how you should do business. Sure you attempted to address the issues but by then, the damage was probably already done.

Let me address my fellow cosplayers a second.  Ladies and gents, Elite Con does indeed have the right to set up a dress code, regardless of how heavy handed and Neanderthal in their delivery. Same way we go to restaurants and they say “no shoes, no service”.  We should not be so privileged in that we should force a con to accept us. However, we do reserve the right to call them out in how the subject was handled. We also have the power with our dollars to not go if it’s perceived that shows like these don’t like money regardless of who is spending and what they are wearing. ANd let’s not sleep, from the rules it sounds like kids in costumes are not permitted either. We can’t force them to accept us but by not going and paying admission, we can force then to look at their policies and should their show survive for another year, find a way to accommodate or better market their show for which their target is.

Elite Con, I am not sure what may have been running through the brain of those that decided to ban cosplayers from your show, but just an FYI we spend money too. Sometimes our cosplay has actually brought business to some vendors. There are some vendors who actually use cosplayers to sell their merchandise and so on. For myself, it’s obscene sometimes the amount of money I may have spent in a weekend at a show, and if my costumes have convinced others to buy, then great deal for that vendor as well.

But, hey, it’s cool if you think banning potential business will help you. I may not like your policy but I respect it. It’s on you guys to create a show that can sink or swim on its own merits. Personally, I think wisdom and couth was lacking in how you all addressed the cosplay issue in relation to your show and that may hurt you going forward as the 1st impression is everything.

Regardless if I was allowed to cosplay at your show or not, I in good conscience, could not go to a show like yours that addressed the issue regarding us potential customers, such as you did.

Good luck

A cosplayer and a spender of money on geeky things